Berhampur: Rushikulya rookery in Odisha’s Ganjam district has set a new record in mass nesting of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles this year.
According to official sources, 5,57,880 Olive Ridleys have laid eggs in the 5-km stretch of the beach from Podampeta village to Bateswar temple under Ganjam block of the district. The sea turtle started coming to the Rushikulya river mouth from Thursday for mass nesting.
On the first day itself, around 1.5 lakh turtles laid eggs on the beach. Between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, 92,523 tutles have laid eggs in their nests. In a deviation from their annual activities on the beach, the Olive Ridleys started mass nesting in day time instead of night which has surprised the wildlife activists.
While 5.5 lakh Olive Ridleys had laid eggs in 8 days last year, the Forest officials are optimistic that the number of visiting turtles would cross 6 lakh this year.
Meanwhile, Amlan Nayak, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Berhampur said adequate security arrangements are in place for safe hatching of the Olive Ridley eggs.
In order to protect the eggs during the incubation period in the ditches, the Forest officials have put up barricades in the area with plastic nets. The area has been divided into 50 segments and protection of each segment assigned to a team comprising Forest officials, volunteers and local villagers. A control room has also been set up for the entire process, the sources said.
In another development, 55 Olive Ridley turtles, which were tagged with metallic flipper in the last two years on the Odisha coast, have returned to the Rushikulya river mouth to lay eggs this time.
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